Boy, do people love Final Fantasy Tactics. They love it so much they'd marry it, if…
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A little background: I never had a PS1, so I didn't have a chance to play Final Fantasy Tactics. I became terrifyingly hooked on Tactics A2 on the DS, but after hearing so many people prosthelytize about how the original is the superior game, I wanted to finally play it.

And so I have been. I'll be writing about the game a lot here over the coming weeks, since I can already tell there's going to be a lot to unpack. But first: The whole learning-curve thing.

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I wanted to share a chat conversation I had with our resident FFT savant Jason Schreier after I spent a couple of hours getting pantsed over and over again by the game's first difficulty spike, the infamous Dorter Slums.

Brace for a long, sprawling IM conversation!

Kirk: I really just lost Dorter SlumsKirk: manKirk: got shreddedKirk: am I going to have to go grind in training forever to level my bros up?

Jason: nopeJason: tell me about your party

Kirk: squire MC (squire) chemist chemist 2 bros

Jason: there's your problem

Kirk: okKirk: go

Jason: at this point, your characters should all be at least job level 2 in their respective classes

Kirk: I thiiink they are

Jason: at squire level 2, you can become a knight or archerJason: at chemist level 2, you can become a wizard or priest

Jason: oh also, save a lotJason: because you can get into random battles any time you're moving across a green tileJason: and there's no fleeing

Kirk: yupKirk: I'm already on top of that oneKirk: so should I make my bro a knight

Jason: yeah so at this point it's totally up to youJason: this is basically where the game starts opening up

Kirk: so what's a good party

Jason: you might want to make algus and delita knightsJason: since their AI is dumbJason: and knights have the most HP

Kirk: yeah I mean godKirk: fucking morons

Jason: a good party for your four guys is knight/archer/wizard/priest for now

Kirk: k

Jason: then when the battle starts you can move your archer-bro up the bigass hillJason: with your wizard to help take out bros up thereJason: keep your knight below to slash shit up and your priest to give him supportJason: now for the spell system

Kirk: ok ok one sec

Jason: basically what happens is when you select a spell to cast, you can also check when that spell will actually go off

Kirk: i'm making my chick chemist Hilde into a white mage

Jason: and you can hit a button (i forget which) to see the entire order of eventsJason: so likeJason: if you're casting a fire spell on an enemyJason: you want to get it off before that enemy movesJason: so if the turn order says the enemy will go firstJason: you might not want to cast it on that guyJason: but there are a lot of factors involved

Kirk: so ok

Jason: you'll get the hang of it

Kirk: how do i check turn orderKirk: I can't figure that out

Jason: so when you go to cast a spellJason: either right, or selectJason: i forgetJason: or start maybeJason: idkJason: play around with buttonsJason: but there's a way to see it in the menu when you cast that spell

Kirk: rightKirk: so it takes a turn, which makes senseKirk: it's like Trails In The Sky in that way actuallyKirk: in A2 you usually cast immediately except with some spells, at least that's how I remember it

Jason: yeahJason: well the math is likeJason: everyone has a bar called CT that gradually chargesJason: and when a character's CT hits 100, it's their turnJason: but some classes recharge faster than othersJason: it's all based on your speed stat

Kirk: riiiightKirk: CT

Jason: your main character, btw, gets a shitload of awesome squire abilities that you should learn asapJason: including one that boosts speedJason: oh alsoJason: when you're switching everyone's classesJason: make sure you remember to give them secondary skillsJason: so like ramza should get Guts always

Kirk: so rightKirk: so like

Jason: some other dudes could get Items

Kirk: I'm gonna do thatKirk: so I have to learn abilitiesKirk: what was the thing you said I should learn immediately though?

Jason: gained JP upJason: for everyone

Kirk: how do i do that

Jason: ok go into the menuJason: go to job/abilities

Kirk: yeah

Jason: there should be a big menu with every class

Kirk: yup

Jason: for each character, you go into each class and you can learn abils there

Kirk: yesKirk: aahKirk: JP BoostKirk: is that it?

Jason: oh yeah, sorryJason: some of the abil names were changed for PSPJason: "gained jp up" was psx

Kirk: so if I learn thatKirk: for SquireKirk: and I'm a knightKirk: I'll still have it?

Jason: yes

Kirk: k

Jason: you have to equip it, thoughJason: each char can only use one support ability at a timeJason: one reaction, one support, one movement

Kirk: ooh

Jason: so for each character, you have to learn JP boost, then equip itJason: abilities are differentJason: active abilities, that isJason: i think they're called "command" abilities

Kirk: greatKirk: this is great

Jason: so if you have a knight, and you set his secondary ability to squire abilsJason: then you can use all squire command abilitiesJason: but not all squire support/movement/reaction abilities

Kirk: ok hang on parsing that

Jason: those are separateJason: ok basicallyJason: go to one of your dudesJason: and go into the menu where it lists all the jobsJason: then go to squire

Kirk: ohhKirk: hang onKirk: so first I have to activate JP boostKirk: I have two lightning bolt abilitiesKirk: an arrowKirk: a looping arrowKirk: and a foot

Jason: rightJason: i forget which arrows are whichJason: but one is support, one is reactionJason: foot is moveJason: the two lightning bolts are command abils

Kirk: right

Jason: so those can all be mixed and matchedJason: once a character learns an ability, he can equip it at any timeJason: so once Kirklton has jp boost, he can put that in no matter what class he is

Kirk: rightKirk: got itKirk: not everyone has enough jp to get jp boost yetKirk: but they're closeKirk: we'll have to win another fight or twoKirk: probs on the way to the castle to get a bow

Jason: so do that before you switch classes

Kirk: right

Jason: since remember, they all need to be getting squire jp

Kirk: wellKirk: my mages are all goodKirk: oh aaahKirk: they have to be squires to get the jpKirk: right right

Jason: not necessarilyJason: remember the sharing thing

Kirk: is move+1 necessary? my black mage isn't close to getting it

Jason: ok so yeah, as long as you have one or two squires, everyone will learn at least a tiny bit of squire jp

Kirk: aah got itKirk: I don't want any squires

Jason: it's nice, but not necessaryJason: right soJason: when you're grindingJason: you can have one person be a squireJason: so everyone else gains that jpJason: and can get jp boost

Kirk: riiight

Jason: since jp boost is necessary

Kirk: do you grind with training?

Jason: what do you meanJason: ok here's the thing about grindingJason: you basically never need to grindJason: unless you have specific goalsJason: like "hey i wanna get this ability right now"Jason: but what you can do isJason: in one battleJason: kill every monster but oneJason: weaken that oneJason: he'll run away to a corner of the mapJason: and then just have all your characters wail on one anotherJason: or use random abilitiesJason: because they gain JP/exp for every actionJason: so that's what really matters

Kirk: right

Jason: you can get hundreds and hundreds of JP in one random battle just by having your characters attack each other for a little while

Kirk: godKirk: hahahahaKirk: how the fuck did anyone learn thisKirk: I guess they read the manual

Jason: nahJason: there's a bigass tutorial section but in the original version it was garbled and wrongJason: so we all just kind ofJason: fucked around

Even a week or so later, transcribing and re-printing that chat, I understand more of just what the hell Jason was talking about than I did at the time. But any way you slice it... well, Final Fantasy Tactics is not a welcoming game.

I'm well beyond Dorter Slums now, and have got my head around a lot of the game's rules and intricacies. I'll have much more on Final Fantasy Tactics in the near future. And hey, if you're playing along, I'd love to hear your tips, too. Leave a comment or hit me up on Twitter, I'm having a great time chatting with everyone about the game.